[nagdu] Matching

Sat Apr 24 15:21:25 UTC 2010

/lol/  Theoretically they grow out of it.  I just started substituting
acceptable chews for shoes and stuff, making sure she understood "mine" and
"yours."  Every now and then I would have to put the Mitzi monster on
restriction, but so long as I kept her adequately entertained, she was
pretty good.

Keeping a young poodle adequately entertained is a 24/7 job, of course.
/smile/

Tami Smith-Kinney

-----Original Message-----
From: nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf
Of Cheryl Osborn
Sent: Friday, April 23, 2010 12:11 PM
To: NAGDU Mailing List,the National Association of Guide Dog Users
Subject: Re: [nagdu] Matching

There have been times that I have wondered about the "matching
process," too.  My first dog was a Golden Retriever, which I asked
for.  My second dog was a very large, black cross and I had asked for
a large black dog.  And this time I asked for a small cross dog and I
got one.  So, in the future I will be certain to ask for a
well-behaved nonchewer. <grin>

On 4/23/10, Tracy Carcione <carcione at access.net> wrote:
> The program about service animals did seem like they just put all the dogs
> and people together and let them pick each other out.  They said all their
> dogs did the same things, so what the hey, essentially.  That seems odd to
> me.  Surely a dog that will need to pull a wheelchair is different than a
> seizure dog, because the pulling dog has to be of a sufficient size and
> weight for the job.
> But anyway, it made me think about guide dog matching.  There seems to be
> a bit of a mystique about it, which sometimes I buy, and sometimes I
> don't.  My friends and I have running jokes about it--they pick by what
> names go cutest together, or they pull the names out of a hat.
>
> It would be interesting, and fun, to meet all the dogs the trainers have
> in mind for me, and pick out the one I like the best.  But I'm not sure
> that would really be the best method.  I might like my dog better right
> away, but only a little, probably.  I like dogs; I've never been matched
> with one I didn't like.  And I'm not sure my pick would actually be better
> than the trainers', who know their dogs pretty well.
> Take Ben for an example.  Before I came, I told TSE that I work in the Big
> City 2 or 3 days a week, and the rest of the time from home.  I told them
> I needed a dog who could walk 3 miles some days, and 5 or 6 blocks other
> days.  And they gave me Ben.  Ben is a fairly low-energy dog.  He likes to
> work, but if he's asked to make his best efforts for more than 2 or 3 days
> in a row, he starts getting tired.  He wouldn't work out for a busy
> college student, say.  He wouldn't have worked out for me, in the bad old
> days when I had an hour-and-a-half commute each way, every day.  But Ben
> wouldn't really work out for someone in the Land of the Car either,
> because he's real smart, and he needs regular challenges or he gets bored
> and starts looking for his own entertainment.  So my life suits him very
> well, with the challenge of Manhattan for a couple days, followed by
> walking around suburbia.
> But I didn't know any of these things when I met him.  I'm not sure how
> much his trainer knew; she didn't tell me much about him.  I'm not sure I
> would have picked Ben out of a crowd.  It took us a while to click.  It
> took me more than a week to even start to understand his nature, and it
> took more than a year for us to start working well as a team.  Probably
> there are people out there who Ben would like better.  Probably there are
> dogs out there I would like better.  But we like each other well enough
> (really, I adore him, despite his bad self), and he is a great match for
> what I need him to do.
> Kind of like an arranged marriage, I suppose.  You get presented with each
> other, and try to make the best of it.
> And really, I'm astonished at how well TSE did, picking out my Benny boy
> for me.  His doggy lifestyle suits my needs amazingly well. I'll request
> some different characteristics next time around, but there are definitely
> some I want to keep, too.
>
> The topic of matching interests me, so I've gone on a bit.
> Tracy
>
>
>
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-- 
Cheryl in Mexico
chapalacheryl at gmail.com

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